Tide-water-power apparatus.



L. F. N. BALDWIN. TIDE WATERPOWER APPARATUS. APPLICATION HLLD IAN-23.1915. RENEWED SEPT. 14. 1917.

Patented Apr. 2,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I- L011 c m an L. F. N. BALDWIN. TIDE WATER POWERAPPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JAN-23.1915- RENEWED SEPT. 14. I917.

m W. W 9 0 a 2 a Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 2.

.91 coo co SMQMQ- k L. Fl N. BALDWIN.

TIDE WATER POWER APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED mus. 1915. RENEWED SEPT. 14-. 1911.

Patented Apr. 2,1918. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 IIIIIII lI'IIII/IIA" marten rnsPATENT orrrcn.

LEON F. N. BALDWIN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

TIDE-WATER-POWER APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 23, 1915, Serial No. 4,055. Renewed September14, 1917. Serial No. 191,504.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that. I. LEON F. N. BALDWIN, citizen of the United States,residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tideater- PowerApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention pertains to the utilization of natural power; andit seeks to make use of the passage of tide water from a body of water,the ocean for instance, into a reservoir and vice versa. The power thusobtained may be used for any purpose to which it is applicable withoutinvolving departure from the scope of my claimed invention, though Iprefer to employ it in the generation of electricity,

lVith the foregoing in mind, the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description and claims when the same are read inconnection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of thisspecification, in which:

Figure 1 is a general plan of the appartus that I prefer to employ inthe practice of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, on an enlarged scale, illustratingone ofthe water wheels embodied in the apparatus and the elements appurtenantthereto.

Fig. 3 is a top plan of the same.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken through one of the floats and theshaft in a plane at one side of the water wheel.

Fig. 5 is a verti *al transverse section taken through the water wheeland illustrating the telescopic gate complementary to the wheel and alsoillustrating one of the floats in end elevation.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken through a Water wheel andappurtenances of modified construction, the same to be hereinafterspecifically referred to.

Similarnumerals of reference designate corresponding parts in Figs. 1 to5, of the drawings.

In furtherance of my invention, I provide a reservoir 1, Fig. 1, whichis formed and separated from the ocean or other body of tide water 2 bya wall 3, formed of cement or other material compatible with myinvention. The said wall comprises end portions and a front portion, andin the latter at intervals in the length thereof are suitably,

provided openings tin each of which is disposed a water wheel 5. Thesewater wheels may be of any type suitable to the purpose of my invention,though I prefer that they should be of the under-shot kind illustratedfor reasons hereinafter set forth. The several water wheels 5 areconnected together in series by a sectional shaft. hereinafterspecifically referred to, and the said shaft may be and preferably isconnected at 5 in Fig. 1 to an electric generator, located in a building5", Fig. 1, disposed and suitably supported in the reservoir 1. Theelectric generator per so may be of conventional or any other approvedconstruction, and as it forms no part of my invention I have deemed itunnecessary to illustrate the same.

The undershot wheels 5 and the manner of connecting the same with theshaft as well as the manner of controlling the passage of water beneaththe wheels are identical, and therefore a detailed description of thewheel shown in Figs. 2 to 5 and the elements that cooperate with thesaid wheel will sutlicc to impart a definite understanding of all of thewheels and the appurtenances thereof. By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 itwill be manifest that the wheel 5 therein illustrated is fast upon ashaft section (3. At one end the shaft section 6 is connected throughuniversal joints 7 with a short shaft section 8. This short shaftsection 8 is connected at 9 to a suitable clutch through the medium ofwhich it is designed to be connected with and disconnected from a shaftsection 10 that extends to and is detachably connected with the shaft 6of the next adjacent water wheel At its end opposite to the one justreferred to, the shaft section 6 is detachably connected through aclutch 11 with a short shaft section 12, and the latter is connectedthrough universal joints 13 with a shaft section 10 connected with theshaft 6 of the next water wheel on the left, and corresponding to theshaft section 10 shown at the right of Fig. 2. The clutches 9 and 11 maybe of any suitable construction, and I have elected not to show the samein detail inasmuch as their purpose is to permit of some of the waterwheels being rendered idle without affecting the operation of otherwheels. In this connection, I would say that my invention is notrestricted to taking power for the generator from a single point in thelength of the wheel shaft, but on the other hand power may be taken fromthe shaft at different points in the length thereof, this in order toprovide against rendering idle any of the wheels except the one that itis desired to put out of use.

The universal joints are provided in the shaft at opposite sides of eachwheel in order to enable the wheel to accommodate itself to a wave orwaves that do not aflect to the same extent the other wheels in theseries, which series may be of any length according to the power that isto be developed.

Suitably connected with the front wall of the reservoir-at the bottom ofthe opening 4 therein is the lower member 20 of a telescopic gate, whichgate extends the full width of the said opening. In addition to thelower member 20, the telescopic gate comprises a vertically-movablemember 21. This latter extends upwardly to a point closely adjacent theperimeter of the wheel 5, and is provided with arms 22, Figs. 2 and 3which are hung on and loosely receive the shaft sections 6 at the endsof the water wheel. From this it follows that when the wheel 5 movesupwardly or downwardly, the gate section 21 will follow the wheel withthe result that water in passing through the openings l is compelled toact against the wheel in order to get past the same, and thisirrespective of whether the water is moving from the ocean into thereservoir or from the reservoir back into the ocean.

In order to maintain the wheel 5 and its complementary gate section 21in the proper position relative to the stage of the water, I providefloats 30 which are guided against the face or inner side of the frontportion of the wall 3 and are connected through suspension arms 81 withthe wheel shaft. In the preferred embodiment of my invention, the saidfloats 30 are made of steel and are hollow in form. I would also have itunderstood that the floats are provided at 32 with filling apertures,normally closed by caps 33 or other closure devices suitable to thepurpose. By virtue of this provision the floats can be partially filledwith water or can be pumped or otherwise cleared of water for thepurpose of lining up and dis posing all the floats at practically thesame height. When deemed necessary or desirable the. floats 30 may beprovided with headed guide projectionsBet disposed in correspondinglyshaped ways 35 in the front portion of the wall 3, this in order toenable the floats to move upwardly and downwardly while hOlCllIlg' themrigidly against movement in other directions. I

It willbegatheredfrom the foregoing that in the event that the water inthe ocean is one ,foot or eighteen inches higher than the'water' in thereservoir, the water cannot passfrom the ocean into the reservoir with-'out t'urning the wheels. Again when the water passes from the reservoirinto the ocean following the dropping of the Water level in the oceanbelow that in the reservoir, the wheels will be turned in reversedirection. In this connection, I would say that any conventional meansmay be employed for compensating for the rotation of the shaft in thereverse direction alluded to.

It will also be gathered from the foregoing that the wheels willpractically be idle only at flood tide, and that the wheels will beactuated approximately twenty hours out of every twenty-four.

WVhen deemed necessary each of the wheels may be located in a chute 40such as shown in Fig. 6. The said. chute is pivotally mounted at theupper end of a vertically movable gate section 21 and is provided at itsends with floats or other suitable buoyant devices l1. One of the saidfloats is disposed in the reservoir and the other in the ocean, and fromthis it follows that when the level of the water in the ocean is abovethe level of the water in the reservoir, the end of the chute adjacentthe ocean will be raised, and water will be chuted from the ocean andpast the wheel in such manner as to actuate the latter and into thereservoir. On the other hand when the level of the water in thereservoir is above that in the ocean, the end of the chute in thereservoir will be raised, and water will be chuted from the reservoirpast the wheel so as to turn the same and into the ocean.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 6, the lower gate section 20 is fixed inthe wall 4", and the upper gate section 21 is arranged to move on andwith respect to the section 20 and in suitable guideways provided in thewall 1 While I have specifically described one form of apparatus for thepurpose of the;

practice of my invention, I desire it distinctly understood that I donot confine myself to the said specific construction, inasmuch as in thefuture practice of the inven tion such changes or modifications may bemade as do not involve departure from the scope of my invention asclaimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is:

1. In an apparatusfor the purpose described, a wall separating areservoir from a body of tide water; said wallhaving a plurality ofpassages therethrough for. water, water wheels disposed in the passagesand each having shaft sections at its ends, con,

nections interposed between the shaft sec -tions and adjoiningwheelsand'each comprising a universal 'joint'and a clutch, and buoyantmeans complementary to and independently supporting the shaft sectionsof sections thereof.

scribed, a wall separating a reservoir from each wheel and connectedwith said shaft a body of tide water; said wall having a plurality ofpassages therethrongh for water, water wheels disposed in the passagesand each having shaft sections at its ends, connections interposedbetween the shaft sections of adjoining wheels and each comprising auniversal joint for permitting verti cal movement of each \vheel withoutaffecting the other wheels, and buoyant means complementary to andsupporting the shaft sections of each wheel and connected with saidshaft sections thereof.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose de scribed, a, wall separating areservoir from a body of tide water and having a passage therethroughfor water, an undershot water wheel disposed and movable vertically insaid passage, a telescopic gate disposed in the passage and having asection connected and movable vertically with the water wheel, and achute in which the lower portion of the wheel is disposed, said chutebeing pivotally mounted at the upper end of said gate section andha\"ing' floats at its ends.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

LEON F. N. BALDWIN.

Vitnesses MARY V. MURPHY, PHILIP V. MARoUs.

(topics of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. 0.

